


It could've been great...

by MalfavoraFlora



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: AU where Adora goes back for Catra after finding the sword, Adora is just sad and hurt and angry, Angst, Betrayal, Catra messes up bad but she's just scared, F/F, First post on here so forgive my tags, I have no idea how this works, it's a lot, placed in season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25712752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalfavoraFlora/pseuds/MalfavoraFlora
Summary: Adora discovers the Sword in the Woods then goes back for Catra who joins her but it turns out that Catra isn't really with the Rebellion after all...It hurts.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	It could've been great...

She ends the call and exhales quietly in relief as Hordak's voice disappears from the communicator.

“Hi, Catra.”

The relief vanishes and she can’t stop herself yowling and leaping a foot in the air as she whips around to find Adora stood in the doorway…

She doesn’t look right… She has this… weird look on her face.

It’s a strange smile that Catra cannot, for the first time in her life, read.

She doesn’t understand it.

“Hey, Adora…” She replies quietly, nervously, through the gloom and Adora stares back at her for a moment.

“How long have you been there?”

“A while.”

Oh no…

Oh _fuck_.

Adora strolls into the room almost lazily and Catra sees the Sword of Protection shimmering on her back. 

Then Adora is at the window, gazing out at Bright Moon, quiet and thoughtful. “You know…” She begins softly, “… when Glimmer told me what she’d overheard-“ _Fuck_. “-I didn’t want to believe her. I even called her a liar.”

“Adora-“

Blue eyes shift to her, shimmering with glistening tears. “It’s been _you_ ,” She breathes and Catra just… she feels sick to her stomach. “It was you all this time and I couldn’t see it because I’d never dare believe you’d do it.” Her hackles raise defensively.

“Well maybe I’m just seeing things clearer! You aren’t going to win this, Adora! You’re outgunned and outnumbered! I get that! You won’t win!”

“No… Maybe we’re not…” Adora agrees unexpectedly… and then she’s walking closer. “Because of _you_.” Her frustration vanishes, ears lowering and tail curling in as Adora stops, several feet away and looks at her with shimmering blue eyes of steel.

“Adora, that isn’t-“ 

“You did this…” Adora breathes accusingly and Catra almost flinches. 

“N-No! It’s just… the Rebellion can’t win this! You have to see that!” She cries desperately and she watches a tear run down the face she’s loved for years and she feels… she feels _horrid_.

“I trusted you.” 

“Adora-“ 

“I went back for you because you were my best friend and I believed in you but all this time you’ve been feeding every _ounce_ of our intel to them.” 

“Adora, just listen-“ 

“No.”

And it’s said with the kind of finality that silences Catra in an instant, her eyes burning. “Catra… I’m not just mad at you…” Adora breathes and her eyes narrow darkly, “I’m _sickeningly_ _disappointed_.”

It’s like a punch to the chest. Worse. Cannon fire maybe? Catra’s shaking. She’s staring at her and she has no idea what to do or say. She cringes backwards.

“Because maybe our odds are bad… but I trusted you to stick with me anyway… to help me and you’ve been sabotaging us and these friends we’ve made for Etheria knows how long!” Adora continues relentlessly and Catra has… nothing. She has nothing because she has and she did and Adora looks disgusted and so terribly hurt by it.

“A-Adora, I swear I was just trying to keep you safe!” Catra croaks and Adora’s eyes narrow further.

“And how has that worked out, Catra?… Because you’ve hurt me more than _anybody_.”

She’s mute, shaking with horror.

“You didn’t just _upset_ me, Catra… You broke _my fucking heart_.” She flinches violently and for a second, Adora softens and then she hardens again and draws the Sword from her back.

Catra panics harder.

“So this is what’s going to happen… Against every smart bone I have… I’m going to give you twenty seconds… and if you’re not gone then I will summon She-ra.” _Fuck_.

“Adora, please, I was trying to keep you alive just listen-“ She pleads and Adora huffs through her tears.

“Why should I?… When you’ve listened to nothing I’ve said since I’ve brought you here?” She interrupts sharply and Catra gapes at her. “I thought you cared… clearly I was mistaken.”

“Please, just give me a minute to explain-!”

“There is nothing to explain. Nothing that could justify this! You have led people to their deaths, Catra… and I am _never_ going to forget it.”

She cringes further into the shadows and Adora’s crying form watches her.

“You have hurt me… more that anybody ever could…”

Her hand tightens around her Sword. “So get out.”

“A-Adora, please-“

“I WANT YOU GONE!” Adora snaps and Catra flinches and swallows hard, barely aware of her own tears.

“Just GO! If the Horde means that much to you then just go because I can’t stand to look at you right now!”

“But I just-“

“ _One_ …” Adora growls, rigid and staring at the floor even as more tears falls.

“Adora, don’t do this,” Catra pleads desperately.

“Two.”

“Adora!”

“Three. You have seventeen seconds.”

“Please don’t do this!”

“Four,” Adora mutters, looking up at her and Catra realises that she’s completely lost her. This… This has ripped them apart. There’s going to be nothing left now.

“Five…”

“Adora…” She whispers brokenly and Adora’s face tightens with pain.

“Six… Run, Catra…” She pauses in her counting. “Get as far away from me as you can… because I have other people to protect now. People to protect from _you_.”

She takes another step back, slipping into moonlight towards the window. “Seven…”

Catra chokes. She’s done it. She’s screwed up the best thing in her life when all she’s ever done is want her.

“Eight…”

“I’m sorry…” She chokes and Adora hesitates, breath's trembling. Then her eyes narrow again. 

“It’s too late for that now…” She returns grimly. “ _Nine_ …”

Catra whimpers brokenly then turns tail and _runs_. She bounds out the balcony onto another, all the way down to the ground and it takes her seconds to escape the castle. Then she reaches the edge of the Kingdom and looks back to a blinding flash and sees She-ra, eyes burning with magic, standing on the balcony, Sword in hand… watching her go.

And she darts into the Whispering Woods and daren’t look back into that cold expression, one stained with Adora’s tears.

She's done it. She's lost everything she ever wanted.

Adora doesn't want her any more.

It’s over. She’s got nothing. She keeps running.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a principal of 'it gets better' when I write angst so don't worry, it gets better. I just like to make my faves suffer for their happiness for a bit before I give it to them. This is a oneshot as it stands but just... imagine that happy ending because I promise it exists in my mind.
> 
> Also, you may or may not recognise this from Tumblr. I am parts-of-spop on there but am trying to compile at least some of my stuff here.


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